Road to Hana

My DH and I are going on the Ruby Princess to Hawaii and I'm wondering if anyone has ever taken the Road to Hana tour that the ship offers? We have rented a car before and drove this ourselves but he was busy watching the curves so he didn't get to enjoy the scenery as much as I did. Thanks for the help.

I don't know anything about Princess lines or their excursions since we are big DCL fans, but I do know Maui fairly well and I would recommend Valley Isle Tours for a RTH tour. Happy planning! :)

I don't know anything about Princess lines or their excursions since we are big DCL fans, but I do know Maui fairly well and I would recommend Valley Isle Tours for a RTH tour. Happy planning! :)

Thanks for the recommendation, my husband is very nervous about booking tours with independent operators. I'm sure that they do a great job, I have read about them before on CC, and everything I've read has been great. But he likes the security of booking with Princess so if anything goes wrong we aren't stuck. Thanks again!!

Valley Isle is a good recommendation (they do the loop to Hana and beyond, including a stop at the pools of Oheo Gulch and the south side of Haleakala) vs. the excursion to Hana and repeat drive back that Princess does, but I'm not sure VI would work with your times in port. (It looks like you'll be in Lahaina from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. ... but with it being a tender port, you'd only have from about 8 a.m. till 5 p.m.)

We've just driven it ourselves (and enjoyed it), but hopefully someone who has done the Princess tour will report back here.

I did a little research on the private tours, and from what I read our time in this port was going to be a problem, but this was before my husband said he'd rather just stick with the cruise line excursion. Hopefully someone will have gone on the excursion and give me a review. We've booked it, but I would still love to hear more about it.

You might want to repost with "Princess" in the title - e.g. "Princess Road to Hana Tour" which might attract the attention of a Princess cruiser who has done this tour, but who otherwise might overlook this thread.

If you've done it, I'm not sure why you'd want to do it again...there's so much more on Maui than the "outback"!

If you've done it, I'm not sure why you'd want to do it again...there's so much more on Maui than the "outback"!

True, the drive to the summit of Haleakala is my favorite.;). A repeat of the Road to Hana would be way down my list of things to do.

I did a little research on the private tours, and from what I read our time in this port was going to be a problem, but this was before my husband said he'd rather just stick with the cruise line excursion. Hopefully someone will have gone on the excursion and give me a review. We've booked it, but I would still love to hear more about it.

I have not taken any ship tour from Lahaina & instead stayed in the Lahaina area because we've been everywhere in Maui. However for several reasons I agree with your husband to take a Princess tour.

Sometimes due to the conditions tendering is delayed & once we had it stopped completely going to the harbor for over 30 minutes. Lahaina's small boat harbor has very limited capacity & if another ship is there can result in even longer delays. I've also had our time shortened due to weather returning to LA.

Another consideration is there is only a 2-lane road between the Lahaina area & the remainder of Maui. About a couple of times per month an accident or brushfire can completely close the road for many hours. And the northern route through Kahakuloa (sections make the RTH feel like a highway ;)) will usually be limited to locals only. The RTH can also experience landslides that block the road.

These are just some things I would consider but certainly not to determine what anyone does on the Valley Isle. However to me it's a factor I would consider when tendering into Lahaina for a relatively short day. With a ship's excursion they'll do everything possible to get you back to the ship before sailing & if you miss the ship they would probably assist you returning home. But it's unlikely that cruise lines would delay sailing for late returning independent tours.

Lahaina has been our last Hawaiian stop before the mandatory Ensenada stop before LA. If on an independent tour you'd have to get a flight back to the U.S. & be subject to a penalty by missing the required PVSA foreign port stop. Then you'd also have to make arrangements to get your things from Princess.

For these reasons I'm with your husband & would take a ship's tour because we don't have enough room in our house to offer you a place to stay. :p ;) :D

The reason that we want to do this trip again is because my husband really didn't get to enjoy it since he was driving. We have done other things on Maui on other cruises and had a great time. This is something he wants to experience without having to be the one driving. And with a tour guide we might even learn something new about Maui.

I'm sure that he is right about picking the ship tour since we are limited to our time there.

Thanks everyone for your help